Any person living in Northern Ireland who wants to become an Irish — and therefore an EU — citizen should still be able to do so after Brexit, according to the U.K. government’s latest position paper on the talks | Matt Cardy/Getty Images

UK: Northern Irish can still become EU citizens post Brexit

The UK’s position paper on Northern Ireland also rejects any border infrastructure on the frontier with Ireland.

LONDON — People with a connection to Northern Ireland who are currently entitled to become an Irish – and therefore an EU – citizen should still be able to do so after Brexit, according to the U.K. government’s latest position paper on the talks.

The document, published Wednesday, sets the protection of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which permits people in Northern Ireland to choose either or both British and Irish citizenship – based on ancestry and other criteria – as one of four top priorities.

The stance is in line with the European Commission’s demand that existing EU rights for people living in Northern Ireland be protected after Brexit.

The position paper states: “As long as Ireland remains a member of the EU, Irish citizenship also confers EU citizenship, with all the rights that go with this. This is as true for the people of Northern Ireland who are Irish citizens — or who hold both British and Irish citizenship — as it is for Irish citizens in Ireland.”

Other priorities include protecting the Common Travel Area for people moving between the U.K. and Ireland; avoiding any infrastructure whatsoever on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland; and maintaining close “north-south” and “east-west” cooperation between the U.K. and Ireland. That includes measures to maintain the single electricity market that exists on the island of Ireland.

The paper also proposes regulatory equivalence between the U.K. and the EU on agrifood products, as one option for avoiding border checks. Such a measure could restrict the U.K.’s room for maneuver in negotiating free-trade deals with non-EU countries after Brexit.

CORRECTION: This article was amended on 17 August 2017. An earlier version incorrectly stated who is currently entitled to Irish citizenship.

François P

Why do these issues come up in the UK position paper? They have almost nothing to do with Brexit.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 1:44 PM CET

alan

@francois p

Correct, probably because the EU side has chosen to make ‘progress’ in this area a pre-condition of moving to trade talks

Posted on 8/16/17 | 2:17 PM CET

sparky42

@Francois P

The EU has 3 major issues listed right now, the NI question is one of those three, yesterday the UK released it’s customs paper today this.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 2:26 PM CET

sparky42

@alan

You don’t think this is related to Trade (also important in the scale of NI not blowing up?)

Posted on 8/16/17 | 2:27 PM CET

Rudi

‘Any person living in Northern Ireland who wants to become an Irish — and therefore an EU — citizen should still be able to do so after Brexit, according to the U.K. government’s latest position paper on the talks’. What, so if you want an EU passport you just have to move to N.Ireland? Yes, it’s hard to reconcile the ‘control our own borders’ rhetoric with ‘frictionless’ open borders with at least one EU member state, and the contradictory aims of stopping and keeping free movement between Ireland and the EU at the same time

Posted on 8/16/17 | 4:07 PM CET

alan

@sparky42

Absolutely related to trade but I see this as post-Brexit issue which can only be resolved once the UK leaves, little or no progress is possible before we move to those discussions

Posted on 8/16/17 | 4:16 PM CET

sparky42

@Rudi

No what they mean is that they will honour the GFA which states any NI citizen is able to claim Irish (and therefore EU) citizenship (and if you are within 3 generations of Irish you can anyway). Remember the GFA was written without ever thinking the UK would be out of the EU so it didn’t matter.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 4:42 PM CET

sparky42

@alan

But it’s a lot more than just Trade, there’s the issue of citizenship, NI funding, the NI institutions, the CTA, the markets, Legal issues…

And above all it’s the potential for NI to start blowing stuff up again.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 4:43 PM CET

alan

@sparky42

Presumably you mean the potential for Irish republicans to try to re-engage in terrorism?

Not clear how you see NI Funding & institutions are related to Brexit.

Rights of EU citizens in the UK post-Brexit & CTA are again essentially post-Brexit issues – nothing can be agreed until everything is agreed

Posted on 8/16/17 | 5:23 PM CET

Peter

Well manoeuvred! Propose a position that:
A) Could resolve the Irish border issue (ticking off one of the preconditions to trade discussions.
B) Supports and is backed up by the GFA.
C) Appeases SF and Remoaners.
And the EU is left in the uncomfortable position that if they reject it is them who are breaching the GFA and their own negotiating guidelines not to mention they will probably anger RoI.

Moral high ground!

Playing the EU at its own game, beautiful!!

Posted on 8/16/17 | 5:43 PM CET

sparky42

@Peter

Ah pretty much rejected out of hand by SF and the Irish Government, try again.

Posted on 8/16/17 | 5:55 PM CET

alan

@Sparky42
But it’s a lot more than just Trade, there’s the issue of citizenship, NI funding, the NI institutions, the CTA, the markets, Legal issues…And above all it’s the potential for NI to start blowing stuff up again.

Perhaps you could clarify or expand a bit
My understanding is that citizenship issues relating to UK citizens in EU countries & EU citizens in the UK are covered by another strand of debate
– NI funding and institutions are domestic matters not affected by Brexit
– UK has offered to continue the CTA but it is up to the EU side including ROI to decide whether or not o accept that offer (Croats who currently have very limited rights to work/reside in UK may not be happy)
– GFA is a bilateral agreement between UK & ROI & not affected by Brexit
– Legal issues – applicable country law will already be stated in contracts, ECJ will no longer have precedence over UK law
– always possible that the old Republican headbangers will re-emerge but they are not going to get anywhere

Posted on 8/16/17 | 6:39 PM CET

crispin hythe

The Northern Irish cannot ‘become’ Irish citizens, because they are born Irish [and proudly European] citizens. Is there no limit to English ignorance?

Posted on 8/16/17 | 6:40 PM CET

sparky42

@alan

In terms of citizenship, I’m not talking about the EU wide issue of Breixt, I’m talking about the NI issue of “British” Citizens also being “Irish” citizens. This has implications (for example a proposed option for the Parliament reshuffle post Breixt is that Ireland gets more MEP’s and the citizens of the North are allowed vote in the EP elections still).

For NI’s funding, no it’s not domestically sourced, you have the CAP payments, and the EU Peace funds as well, while May has said that will be maintained for the current time any shift between what the NI farmers get and the ROI farmers get is going to encourage “issues”, and in terms of the Peace Funds the Nationalists have zero faith in London being an honest broker in such situations.

What’s the Croats got to do with the CTA? The issue with the CTA is that it makes an utter mockery of the suggestion that the UK was taking back control of the borders (which UK officials have admitted today), so how long before the Tory Right take aim at that?

As for the GFA, it was written on the assumption of both nations being in the EU, and wasn’t designed to function without that (hence why everyone is trying to square the circle of what it mandates and what Brexit means).

“Legal issues” covers a multitude, for example NI farming basically operates as an extension of the Republic’s (given the common agri laws due to the EU), which has allowed them to avoid restrictions for example when Foot and Mouth happened in GB (they could still export), now however with the UK going it’s own way that’s not possible unless there’s a defacto split between GB and NI in such areas. Or for example the UK’s suggestion about SME’s being exempt for controls, which violates EU and WTO regulations, so how does that work?

Posted on 8/16/17 | 8:08 PM CET

sparky42

@alan

Another example is the UK’s wish in regards to Energy, this has already collapsed due to the UK’s threats regarding reverting to WTO trade rules, a result of which the Irish Government has dropped the legal requirement for Irish based energy generation to pay funds towards the interconnectors (and of course has resulted in 2 US firms moving to replace UK gas supplies with US imports instead into Ireland)

Posted on 8/16/17 | 8:32 PM CET

alan

@sparky42

In terms of citizenship the implications for EP seats are purely post-Brexit, British citizens will have no role in EP elections. If the Irish Republic wishes to offer votes to non-residents ie Irish citizens living in the UK or indeed anywhere else outside ROI that is a matter for them. Its not a Brexit matter.

Funding – once outside the EU the UK as a whole will out of scope of CAP. It will be a purely UK domestic matter as to how farming & agriculture is funded. Other EU funded programmes will presumably also fall out of EU budget provision, ‘Peace’ funding will be I gues a tri-lateral between UK/ROI/EC

CTA – seeks to offer Irish citizens preferential access & rights to reside/work in UK which will not be available to other EU citizens. See a previous article on this site about current limitations on the rights of Croats in the UK, something which may influence Croatia’s willingness to approve any new agreement inc continuation of CTA

GFA – nothing in the GFA or subsequent agreements is dependent on membership of the EU, perhaps you could point out any clause to this effect. It is a bilateral UK-ROI agreement & I do however believe the Supreme Court may have already ruled on this.

Legal issues – ROI & UK are separate independent states & jurisdictions which have chosen to adopt common rules as proposed by the EU. Post Brexit the UK will no longer be obliged to move in lock step with the EU, it may voluntarily chose to for pragmatic reasons but it is probably inevitable that there will be divergence – nothing new different member states in the EU have always chosen their own interpretations of the various rules & regulations, or indeed in some cases chosen not bother to implement them at all.

As the UK is proposing to translate existing EU into UK law there is unlikely to be drastic divergence in the near term. No need for any form of split within the UK

SME exemptions – can’t comment at this stage

Posted on 8/16/17 | 8:50 PM CET

alan

@sparky42

An example of EU states interpreting or applying rules differently might be the ROI/Apple state aid situation

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